Canadian General Gives the Orders At Base Deep in the Heart of Texas / Arrangement between nations seen as being productive for both

Steven Lee Myers, New York Times

Published
4:00 am PST, Wednesday, March 8, 2000

2000-03-08 04:00:00 PDT Fort Hood, Texas -- Soldiers on this sprawling post in central Texas snap to salute when Maj. Gen. Rick J. Hillier strides by. He is, after all, deputy commander of the Army's 3rd Corps and its 57,000 troops. But there is something unusual about this lanky officer that gives soldiers pause.

First there is his clipped accent, which sounds even stranger down here in Texas. And then there is his uniform, his forest-green beret and the two maple leaves he wears instead of a general's stars.

Hillier, second in charge of one of the Army's four corps, a senior officer overseeing the operations of three Army divisions, is Canadian.

"Some found it a little strange at first," he said as he oversaw a group of National Guard soldiers preparing to leave Fort Hood for Bosnia. "Now it doesn't seem to matter that I'm in a Canadian uniform. They just view me as part of the team."

The presence of foreign officers on American bases is nothing new. American troops work closely with NATO forces in Europe, thousands of foreign officers come to the nation's war colleges each year, and the armed services regularly exchange officers with other nations.

But Hillier's position is unique. He is by far the highest-ranking foreign officer to serve in the United States. And unlike foreigners who serve as advisers or liaisons, he holds a high position in the chain of command -- the only foreign officer who does, Army officials say.

"He gets all the privileges of someone accorded his rank," said James M. Pahris, the director of the Army's exchange programs. "And he is doing very viable work for us."

In this country, where sovereignty over national security matters is paramount, Hillier's position has been a sensitive one. Even though he has served at Fort Hood for more than a year and a half, the Army has done little to publicize his appointment.

There are also, by law, explicit limits on the authority he has over American troops, as there are for all 107 foreign officers and noncommissioned officers from 13 countries serving in the Army today.

While his American aides follow his orders as crisply as they would any other general's, he cannot formally assume command from the corps commander, Lt. Gen. Leon J. LaPorte. If he needs to issue a written order, LaPorte signs it.

He also cannot promote a soldier, nor can he punish one under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. And the law prohibits him from officially representing the Canadian government or serving as a conduit for information, classified or unclassified, between the two armies.

"There's no secret lurking around in the dark for things," explained Lt. Gen. William C. Leach, Canada's army chief.

Hillier owes his position to the transformation the Canadian army has undergone since the end of the Cold War.

Canada's decision in 1993 to withdraw its ground forces from Europe left its commanders without the close interaction with NATO and, especially, American military operations they felt they needed at a time when doctrine, tactics and technology were radically evolving. With Canada's entire military being only slightly larger than the Army's 3rd Corps, the Canadians had few opportunities to experience military operations at the level of an American Army corps, Leach said.

So Leach approached his American counterparts three years ago and proposed creating a ranking position for a Canadian officer -- not as an observer, but as an integral part of the Army's structure.

"I needed something more than captains and majors in exchanges," Leach said. "We simply didn't have the same day-to-day contact we had. That started to bother me."

Hillier, who is 44 and a rising star in the Canadian military, arrived at Fort Hood in July 1998. At the time, he was a brigadier general and served as the 3rd Corps' assistant deputy commander. When Canada promoted him to major general last year, the Army made him deputy.

Despite the limits on Hillier's authority, Canadian and American officials say the arrangement has been fruitful -- for both armies.

Leach said it had exposed the Canadian army to concepts and experiments the Americans are exploring, citing as an example the Army's work to improve communications for tactical units. At the same time, it has exposed the Americans to Canada's way of doing things, particularly its extensive experience in peacekeeping operations.

Hillier arrived just as the 3rd Corps was taking over the mission of training American soldiers for NATO's peacekeeping mission in Bosnia, including troops from the 1st Calvary Division, based here, and, most recently, the 49th Armored Division of the Texas National Guard. Hillier has himself served in Bosnia, with the U.N. force during that country's war and with NATO's operation after the conflict ended in 1995.

"His vast knowledge has been just invaluable," the 49th's commander, Maj. Gen. Robert L. Halverson, said at a recent ceremony marking the division's deployment to Bosnia. "He was involved right from the beginning to help build the training program and then to see to it it was executed properly."

Hillier is due to leave his post in June, but Leach has begun discussions about assigning a new Canadian general to continue his work.